The Ontario Liberals will look to hold their third leadership race since 2020, following a resignation announcement by Bonnie Crombie, who received a weak show of support at the party's annual general meeting. Crombie, who won the party's last leadership race in late 2023, said in a statement that she believes it is the best decision for the party to...
The newly created Build Canada Homes agency will oversee plans to build 4,000 homes on six federally owned sites, as part of a $13 billion agency budget to speed up affordable home building, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday. Carney said that the $13 billion will offer financial incentives for builders to construct affordable homes and reduce upfront costs of affordable homebuilding.
Amid concerns of potential job cuts, Prime Minister Mark Carney says any reduction of the size of the federal public service will “happen naturally through attrition.” Carney made the remarks while speaking to reporters at a housing announcement in Ottawa on Sunday. When asked whether he will keep the Liberal Party’s election pledge to cap and not cut the public...
Poilievre argues Carney’s ‘picking up the football in the end zone to spike it.’ The federal government announced this week the five major projects it intends to fast-track. Now, Energy Minister Tim Hodgson is pushing back against Conservative critiques that the list is nothing special because some projects were already well in development. "You've got to execute and punch the...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to square off with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in Parliament for the first time this week when the House of Commons reconvenes for the fall sitting. Poilievre won a byelection in Alberta last month, allowing him to return to his familiar seat as Opposition leader when things get underway on Monday.
As parliament resumes on Sept. 15th – and with Poilievre taking his new seat in the House of Commons – a new Ipsos poll finds that, if another federal election were held tomorrow, the Liberal party would hold a four-point lead in the decided vote (43%, -1 pt) over the Conservatives (39%, -2 pts), a result that remains relatively close...
Economic anxiety is high, the mood is tense. GDP is under pressure, tariff impacts are being felt. People are impatient for a return to more predictable times, a less stressed world. But most, at this point anyway, are not transferring these stresses into unhappiness with the newly elected government, or the Prime Minister.
I was at my desk this week, logged in for a Zoom. I was early, and had a few minutes to spare. I’d just finished a big project - good work, I thought, the kind of work you want to show off. I was sitting in that strange space between exhaustion and pride, the breath you take before you hand...
It was a cold day in March, when newly minted Liberal leader Mark Carney suggested he jumped into politics because the moment — Trump’s re-election and his threats to Canada’s economy — called for his skills. “I put my hand up because of the crisis,” he said, in Windsor. It was an interesting revision of facts. The former governor of...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to ease his elbows-up approach with United States President Donald Trump’s administration and remove tariffs on American goods last month has found Carney getting elbowed out of the high approval ratings he has been receiving since March 24, 10 days after he was sworn in as Canada’s 24th prime minister. The results of an Angus...
Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre are laying out their parties' priorities ahead of Parliament's return on Monday for its fall session. In an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday morning, MacKinnon said the federal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney will be presenting a budget in October that will "chart an economic path...
Picture this: In just one week, 80 rounds fired in a downtown core, leaving three people seriously injured. A Jewish woman stabbed while shopping for her groceries. A shooting forces an entire neighbourhood into lockdown. A man injured from yet another stabbing. A toddler, horrifically, was sexually assaulted during a break-in by a man with a prior child-sex conviction, recently...
Prime Minister Mark Carney has the opportunity to craft a climate policy that makes sense to Canadian taxpayers – versus the political insanity of the Justin Trudeau era – but the question is whether he is ultimately a pragmatist or an ideologue.
When it comes to politicians, especially newcomers to public life, journalists have a well-worn modus operandi. We build ’em up, then we tear ’em down. For Mark Carney, the teardown phase seems to be well underway. The man hailed as a political miracle-worker a scant few months ago now apparently can’t get anything quite right.
In a survey I recently completed, I asked Canadians whether they knew that the Carney government had committed to cutting 15% of federal spending over the next three years. Roughly half admitted they didn’t. Think about that: one of the most consequential fiscal decisions in a generation that will likely be presented in the federal budget in October, will be...
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced five projects that will be fast-tracked by the federal Major Projects Office. The Power & Politics panel of party insiders discusses the reaction from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and several premiers who hope to see their projects on future lists.
Six months after being elected, the Carney government continues to enjoy high polling numbers from a Canadian public that is still nervous about Trump’s impact on Canada. Thrust into a political scene that required a lot of tough talk from Mr. Carney, voters assumed they were getting someone who would stand up for Canada to Trump. Outside of terminally political...
In Edmonton, Dawn Farrell, head of the new Major Projects Office (MPO) for the Government of Canada took to the podium to introduced Prime Minister Carney and summarized her mandate and the mission of the government thusly: “To get to one project, one review, one decision in a two-year timeline, (that) will set Canada apart globally and attract enormous inflows...
Now is the time we’ll find out whether Canadians are grown-ups, and Canada is a grown-up country. Parliament returns on September 13th for its fall sitting, which feels like the real launch of the session that began with the throne speech from King Charles in May, with Prime Minister Mark Carney now facing Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre in the House...
The next 8 weeks may set the political context for the next couple of years, as policy directions turn to specific announcements and a budget lands with a lot of tangible detail. Economic anxiety is high, the mood is tense. GDP is under pressure, tariff impacts are being felt. People are impatient for a return to more predictable times, a...
Mark Carney won the federal election in April by building a coalition of Canadians who don’t normally vote the same way but were united by one overriding fear: the destabilizing threat of U.S. President Donald Trump. “Elbows up” was the rallying cry: the phrase, borrowed from hockey legend Gordie Howe, once described muscling into corners but became a way for...
At a glance, the seven priorities outlined in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s mandate letter to his cabinet ministers may seem entirely disconnected from environmental concerns. Issues such as housing, economic growth, national security and immigration may appear to be separate from climate change or biodiversity loss. But that idea is both artificial and costly.
Politicians of all stripes have been appealing for calm after the U.S. shooting death of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, fearing the backlash it could provoke in an already divided America. Some of that fear is squarely focused on a constituency that was hugely important to Kirk — disaffected young men, who have been increasingly leaning conservative all over the globe...
The right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk has become a casualty of a version of America he believed could be resisted, simply, with words. Mr. Kirk built a political empire based on the premise that ideas could lead to great victories; that a high school kid could write an op-ed for Breitbart and, just four years later, speak on stage at the...
What’s powering the populism ascendant in so many advanced Western democracies today? It’s an apposite question once again: French President Emmanuel Macron has lost another prime minister, François Bayrou, who joined Michel Barnier in the head-of-government discard box last week after a popular revolt over proposed spending. Just what do the people of France want?
I suspect most of us yearn for a little positivity these days. Looking at our political landscape, happy news seems in painfully short supply. Even Wednesday’s provincial cabinet shuffle was cause for disappointment. Read more at: https://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/op-eds/article1157380.html#storylink=cpy
It’s customary when a new cabinet minister is named for the stakeholders affected by their portfolio to congratulate the fresh appointee and express how much they’re looking forward to working together. After the naming of Geneviève Guilbault as Quebec’s new municipal affairs minister in a cabinet shuffle Wednesday, perhaps mayors and councillors from Montreal to Mirabel can be spared this...
An imminent provincial election in Newfoundland and Labrador is a key opportunity for the public to demand transparency about a new energy agreement with Hydro-Quebec -- and possibly even halt it, say critics of the deal. Jack Harris, a former member of Parliament for the NDP, is among a number of former politicians, public servants and energy leaders in the...
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie is indicating she will stay on as leader, after party delegates voted against having a new leadership race -- though only narrowly. Voting was taking place through the weekend at the party's annual general meeting in Toronto and 57 per cent of delegates said there should be no new leadership race, meaning they support Crombie...
WINNIPEG -- A report that could shed more light on why Manitoba's former Progressive Conservative government rejected calls to search a landfill for the remains of two murder victims is being withheld under the province's freedom of information law.
Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon is warning the federal government will have to make “tough choices” ahead of the fall budget that is set to be unveiled in October. “The government has run a large deficit since the pandemic, when we were there to support Canadians, and now we have some choices to make so that we can get our...
7 remaining MPs gathered on Vancouver Island as party charts its future. On the coast of Vancouver Island, the remaining NDP members of Parliament came to do some soul-searching. The seven survivors — the "mighty seven" as they sometimes jokingly call themselves — gathered in the quaint coastal community of Parksville, just north of Nanaimo, for a caucus retreat last...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government will face the House of Commons next week for the first time since June. It begins the fall sitting of Parliament with an approval rating among Canadians that no government has seen in nearly a decade, according to new polling done exclusively for Global News by Ipsos. While Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre has derided the...
Pierre Poilievre is ready to double down on domestic issues as he returns to the House of Commons. Mark Carney is not Justin Trudeau. He’s also not Pierre Poilievre.
Does the EV mandate really ban gas-powered vehicles? The future of Canada's electric vehicle mandate is uncertain. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced this month that he is pausing the national mandate, what Ottawa calls the electric vehicle availability standard. Conservatives have been calling for some time for policy to be scrapped. Carney stopped short of doing that, but did not...
The prime minister — and Canadians — are facing many choices in short order.Even while Mark Carney has been accused of lowering his elbows in regards to American tariffs, he continues to frame the larger challenge facing this country in stark terms. "What's going on is not a transition," Carney said last week in Mississauga, Ont., while announcing an array...
Former federal environment minister Catherine McKenna says the Justin Trudeau government's efforts to explain the consumer carbon price to Canadians were "half-hearted" -- and just getting a meeting with the prime minister to discuss it "seemed impossible." McKenna offers those behind-the-scenes details in her new autobiography, Run Like A Girl, which is being launched next week. McKenna, first elected in...
Former environment minister Catherine McKenna says federal security agencies initially refused to offer her protection -- and wouldn't even show her the risk assessment they'd completed -- as she faced a rising tide of threats and harassment online and in person. McKenna was the Liberal MP for Ottawa Centre from 2015 to 2021 and served in cabinet the entire time...
After shooting of Charlie Kirk, Conservative leader says top politicians need protection. Pierre Poilievre says he worries for his family as political violence concerns grow in the U.S. and Canada following the fatal shooting of an American right-wing activist — and the Conservative leader believes all of Canada's top politicians should have protection. "We have had very serious threats to...
Charges are expected to be filed soon, suspect named as Tyler Robinson. Utah's governor said early Friday that they have a suspect in custody in connection with the fatal shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk earlier this week. The suspect was named as Tyler Robinson, 22, a state resident who did not attend Utah Valley University, where Kirk was gunned...
The federal government is in discussions with Alberta and the oil industry about the future of the sector's emissions cap, Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said Friday. At a news conference in Winnipeg, Hodgson said both the province and industry agree with the federal government that there needs to be a "fundamental change in the emissions intensity of the oilsands."
Ottawa summoned Russia's ambassador to Canada, Oleg Stepanov, over the incursion of Russian drones into Poland. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand tells The Canadian Press that Global Affairs Canada reprimanded Stepanov on Wednesday. Multiple Russian drones entered Polish territory between Tuesday and Wednesday and NATO allies shot down some of the devices, though Ottawa has not said whether Canada was...
Future of federal emissions cap reportedly being negotiated. Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson says the federal government is in discussions with Alberta and oil companies about oilsands emissions, amid reports the federal emissions cap could be on the chopping block. According to the Toronto Star and Reuters, Prime Minister Mark Carney's government could eliminate the proposed federal cap on oil...
As Ottawa gears up to launch a new agency to build homes faster, internal government documents describe how dire the housing situation has become in Canada. Briefing materials prepared for incoming Housing Minister Gregor Robertson this past May acknowledge that costly housing is hurting the economy and making it difficult for people to find places to live.
WINNIPEG -- A Manitoba cabinet minister is apologizing for sharing a social media post about the killing of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers says it will lift its overtime ban as of Monday at 12:01 am local time, and instead implement a ban on commercial flyer delivery. CUPW president Jan Simpson is calling on Canada Post to get back to the bargaining table in hopes of wrapping up the ongoing dispute before the holiday season.
Five projects, two in BC, one in Saskatchewan, one in Ontario and one in Quebec headline Mark Carney's initial nation building push. Surprisingly perhaps, the list got a big thumbs up from Alberta's premier. Just a few days before Parliament returns what does that say about how the government will fare when the action begins in the House of Commons...
Ontario Liberals are set to hold a leadership vote this weekend, amid grumbling from some members about whether Leader Bonnie Crombie is the right person to take them back into government. The party is gathering in Toronto for its annual general meeting, its first since the mixed-bag February election that saw them regain official party status but left their leader...
The next 8 weeks may set the political context for the next couple of years, as policy directions turn to specific announcements and a budget lands with a lot of tangible detail. Economic anxiety is high, the mood is tense. GDP is under pressure, tariff impacts are being felt. People are impatient for a return to more predictable times, a...
The RCMP has warned a prominent Sikh activist that his life is in danger, fuelling concerns that India is continuing to target Canadians while Ottawa seeks improved trade ties with the South Asian power.
Ottawa's chief data officer says he thinks the introduction of artificial intelligence to federal government operations will lead to "some" job cuts in the public service. In a recent interview with The Canadian Press, Stephen Burt said he thinks the impacts are going to vary widely and will be job-specific, with different outcomes in different areas. While he wouldn't identify...
Canada's ministers of finance and procurement have given officials in charge of most federal contracting 45 days to come up with a plan to review all existing and planned federal contracts to find ways to save money. The directive made by Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and Public Works and Procurement Minister Joel Lightbound is the latest cost-savings directive from the...
Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, one of the GOP's most prominent foreign affairs hawks, announced on Sunday that he'll retire, while warning that, with Russia's escalation of its invasion of Ukraine, "we got to be very careful not to be on the precipice of a World War III."
President Donald Trump's administration renewed its request Sunday for a federal appeals court to let him fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve's board of governors, a move the president is seeking ahead of the central bank's vote on interest rates.
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) -- Even before the killing of Charlie Kirk, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania was struggling with the emotional toll of political violence.
Charges are expected to be filed soon, suspect named as Tyler Robinson. Utah's governor said early Friday that they have a suspect in custody in connection with the fatal shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk earlier this week. The suspect was named as Tyler Robinson, 22, a state resident who did not attend Utah Valley University, where Kirk was gunned...
President Donald Trump said Friday "with a high degree of certainty" that the suspect in Charlie Kirk killing has been caught. Federal investigators and state officials on Thursday had released photos and a video of the person they believe is responsible. Kirk was shot as he spoke to a crowd gathered in a courtyard at Utah Valley University in Orem...
OREM, Utah (AP) -- A palm print. A shoe impression. And a high-powered rifle found in a wooded area. Those are among the clues authorities laid out as they pleaded for the public's help to find the person who assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk before dropping from a Utah university campus roof and vanishing.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Nearly a quarter century has passed since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but for many, the emotions of the day remain raw as ever.
They were careful with the explicit imagery -- as usual. But did it make any difference?
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered an ambiguous initial response to Russia's drone incursion into Poland's airspace, a provocative act by Moscow that has put the United States' NATO allies in Europe on edge.
Nepal witnessed one of its most violent episodes in decades on September 8, when a youth-led uprising against the government’s ban on 26 social media platforms — including YouTube, Facebook, X, and Instagram — left 34 people dead and thousands injured. The demonstrations in Kathmandu and other cities forced four-time prime minister KP Sharma Oli to resign and triggered widespread...
Over the past two decades, India-U.S. relations have made steady strides, buoyed by bipartisan support in both countries and thriving in areas such as trade, technology, and strategic convergence in the Indo-Pacific. Yet the bilateral partnership has suffered an unprecedented setback in recent months. Beginning August 27, Indian exports to the U.S. face a steep 50 per cent tariff, including...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
The RCMP has a venerable history of flouting the Access to Information Act, invoking excessive redactions and imposing delays that too often violate the letter of the law. Canada’s information commission raps the RCMP’s knuckles every few years and they always promise to do better. But like clockwork, they soon fall back into bad habits. Requestors who deal regularly with...
It’s difficult for us to imagine a future that’s different than today, because so much of our understanding of today is based upon our past.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has removed any restrictions on Canada’s military to join President Trump’s Golden Dome, an unproven, half-trillion dollar program to try to shoot down nuclear-armed missiles launched against the United States by Russia or China. According to Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese, Defence Minister David McGuinty visited the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) headquarters in Colorado...
Ahead of MPs returning to the House of Commons, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre joins The House for a sit-down interview in studio to discuss the federal government’s major projects list, his views on climate change and his worries about his family’s security in a time of growing political violence. Then, Catherine Cullen talks to Dan Myerson, CEO of the Foran...
On this episode of WONK, RBC Chief Economist Frances Donald talks to Amanda Lang about the 'fragmentation' of the economy and why Canada is at a 'turning point' Canada just recorded a quarter of negative growth. It sits on the edge of a potential recession. U.S. tariffs continue to hit the economy hard. Meanwhile, the country is plowing ahead with...
Russia is being accused of provoking Poland and its NATO allies, after multiple drones violated its airspace during a Russian aerial attack on Ukraine. As NATO fighter jets engaged potential enemy targets in allied airspace, Prime Minister Donald Tusk activated Article 4, signaling his country considered its territorial integrity and security under threat. But regardless of whether the infiltration by...
For months, there has been speculation about what Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal government might put forward as “nation-building projects” under the Building Canada Act, Bill C-5. But The Globe and Mail has obtained a draft list of 32 major projects, the first glimpse into what kinds of projects the government is considering. Bill Curry, The Globe’s Deputy...
